Let's play mafia!
by Nantena
Summary: Leaving for Japan and the Battle of the Rings didn't seem to be more than just a mission for a young hitman, until things didn't go quite as planned. But a peaceful life didn't really work out either, and in the end you can learn that family wasn't just ones who shared your blood. OC/80, a continued oneshot
1. Perplexion

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR or any of its characters.

Dream as if you will live forever

Live as if you will die today

_James Dean_

I hadn't really seen much of the world before we came to Japan. I travelled to countless places when working for the Varia of course, but mostly it was in and out; with no other souvenirs than the body count.

You don't talk to people, you don't let them see you- just do what you do best. Unlike my dear big brother, I can in fact behave like a good employee and follow that rule. This is probably the reason why Xanxus tend to be less prone to throw glassware and food at my head, and chooses to terrorize Squalo instead. People usually comment on our personalities differing, but that we still look so alike. Maybe we do? I often find myself looking at myself in the mirror, at my light hair and my features, probably too sharp for a girl to be considered cute. A few boys had told me they found me attractive, "_sweet behind that frown",_ but I couldn't care less. I didn't have time for nonsense. Sooner or later they saw the mafia girl that I really was, and they usually didn't find me sweet at all after that; just cold and harsh.

It had been an easy choice for me to join the Varia since my only kin was with them all the time. I was a bit too young to remember much about the fight he had with the Sword Emperor or the Crib affair since I was only seven at the time. But I remember being so proud that my brother was the strongest person in the whole world… it was then that I decided to be just as strong.

Already during the flight to Japan, you could feel the tension. Apparently this wasn't just another reconnaissance mission like the ones I regularly had. I always did them alone just like Xanxus and his Guardians did missions without me. I would often be stationed at home base with a few others, in order to keep things running while he was away on business. No one really dared to enlighten him of the fact that things were actually running smoother when he wasn't home, running amok in our hallways… but I wasn't the only one on a move, dozens of people had been ordered to gather for the upcoming battle. Probably to act as backup, although Xanxus would never admit they might need one.

Still… why did we have to go all the way to some noodle land to beat the crap out of some kids?

In time for the fourth battle, the between the Guardians of Rain, Xanxus had approved for me to participate as a spectator, instead of staying a few blocks away. He was of course not trying to be nice and let me watch my brother fight, I was merely practical to have more people there since he – and I quote- "didn't have time to babysit the trash himself".

When I asked him why a fifteen year old would be qualified to babysit grown up men he just threw a far too expensive Margaux at my head and stomped out.

That stupid boss could actually be human sometimes.

Since this was the first glimpse I would get out of our opponents, I didn't know what to expect. But it sure as Hell wasn't this.

A complete idiot of a short stack.

Some guy with serious issues when it came to manliness.

Shamal's adept (I think it was the Hurricane Bomber, but it was hard to see behind all the bandages)…

Some other uninteresting people.

_And then there was that guy. _

I had never seen someone smile so brightly before a battle.

Brother smiles, but more in a smug way because he knows that he is going to win. Xanxus looks less angry than the rest of the time, but he doesn't smile, no matter how much he enjoys killing things. Bel… well he is a complete psychopath, so what do you expect?

But I have never seen anyone smile like that; so innocently or so… _sweet_. I kind of wanted to hit him. Who treats this like a game, like this isn't serious or life threatening? Then again, all of them were immature. Most of them had probably never seen real hardships or the ugly side of mankind. I know I might sound like a hypocrite now, being young myself, but it's the principle that matters. They're all kids, and they should stay in and do their homework, not try to play mafia.

And then they started doing some charade about cheering each other on. How very unoriginal. Bloody kids, this isn't some summer camp you know, and-

"Oi." My inner monologue was rudely interrupted by Leviathan, the one guy among us that I was actually certain had too few chromosomes.

"What?"

"Quit spacing out. You're gonna make Boss look bad if you stand there like an idiot."

"Now it takes one to know one, huh?"

"Damnit woman, I'm gonna-"

"VOOOIIIII! Just shut up and watch me beat the shit out of this scum, hahahaha!" with that, Squalo turned around and followed the kid into the battling area…

"Levi?"

"…"

"Levi."

"…"

"Oh for fuck's sake Levi this is important, stop being so unprofessional, Xanxus would be so disappo-"

"What is it!?"

"Why don't we have a circle?" I pouted a bit but tried to look as if I hadn't just asked something completely stupid.

Levi just walked away and stood next to Bel for about five minutes, until a knife mysteriously was etched into his left arm and a familiar _ushishishi_ was heard. But I still wanted to have a circle too.

... ... ... ... ... ...

No one else seemed to notice that the Varia had been joined by another member that night. I didn't pay much attention to it either; the match was first priority. No matter what people think of me, I know when it's serious.

The last thing I saw before I went in was that girl's face, and something disturbed me. But I couldn't put my finger on it.

We had lost all the rings except Senpai's and we had to win this one. _I_ had to win this one. Still, when I joined my friends after the fight, the one I had won, I couldn't focus on what they were saying.

I searched for her face again, and I wasn't surprised to see her standing a few feet away from the rest of the Varia, but the look on her face was too sad. I knew they lost but still, it wasn't over and her comrades, her nakama, were as unfazed by Squalo dying as when they _shot _one of their own in the first fight. She seemed so misplaced among them .

I hadn't noticed how similar they were until then. I almost slapped myself for not noticing it earlier- they had the same hair, even if hers was much shorter. The same eyes, and apparently the way they moved. Fighting Squalo let me see the slight change in her stance and made it possible for me to block the kick that was aimed at my stomach, but I didn't have the slightest chance to block the punch she threw at my face, not when she was so fast. I was still in a bit of a daze, and she managed to knock me off my feet and she loomed over me as I was on the ground, the wind knocked out of my lungs.

I could hear Gokudera shouting something obscene, and Tsuna was probably panicking. Hopefully he didn't have a heart-attack.

"You bastard… you killed…"

She was speaking to me in Italian, and of course I couldn't get a thing she was saying. But I wasn't so clueless that I didn't get that she had been close to the man that just died and that she clearly thought it was my fault.

Well it was true, wasn't it?

_I'm so sorry._

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... _

Brother doesn't lose. He just doesn't.

For all I care, he's invincible.

And yet this- this _kid that's not even older than me _just waltz in like he's playing a fucking video game and beats him. And the pride of a swordsman hindered my brother from coming back to us.

I know that it wasn't the kid's fault that my brother chose to die, but I didn't know what to do with my anger. And punching him felt so good. The sick side that made me Varia quality relished in my chance at a gruesome revenge… until he started speaking to me in a voice that was far too calm and far too accepting.

I didn't know what it meant. I hadn't exactly had time to learn any Japanese, and I didn't think I would need it. We weren't really here for sightseeing or anything.

Yet, I couldn't bring myself to hurt him when he spoke. He seemed a little surprised himself. Like he had just been thinking out loud. I stared at him, unable to move. It felt like too much time had passed before I heard the distinct laugh of Xanxus, but it brought me out of this trance and I quickly got up from the ground and away from the dark haired boy. He sat up but stayed in the same spot, his eyes still not releasing mine. He just repeated that same word again.

It didn't matter that he spoke in a fucked up noodle-language, because the point got through. He felt just as shitty as I did, but I couldn't stand to hear him apologize one more time. It wasn't as if anything would change.

"Hey, mini-shark!" I didn't respond at the taunting nickname, but I turned and looked at Boss, waiting for him to go on.

"Stop embarrassing yourself. The trash would've become fish food whether the brat killed him or I did it. You don't lose and get to see another sunrise."

"Fucking boss." _Stop acting so tough, like you know shit. _

"Hahaha, you're a good substitute though!" He got up and walked away, closely followed by Levi and the others. His posture was just a little bit off.

Only a couple more days and I could go back home.


	2. Change of Scenery

Disclaimer: I do not under any circumstances own KHR or any of its characters.

* * *

I wish I could say that things went back to normal after the ring battles. Well, in a sense I suppose it did; we went back to Italy and I still had to save the headquarters from burning down about three times a day. Xanxus had a bit of a breakdown but I think we fixed that when we just let him drink to his heart's content for a few days. Leviathan was still stupid, Bel still a sadist, Lussuria still flaming and Mammon still missing. Squalo was actually a bit quiet until he got this wonderful idea that he had to beat like a hundred of people and then he was as lively as always.

But even though everything appeared to be normal, there was still this tension.

Xanxus had kind of realised that he didn't have the divine right to be Vongola X, and when he stopped having that edge brother and everyone else got a bit out of it. I stopped caring for my missions since it seemed so pointless now that I knew that we wouldn't reach our goal anymore. Not that it really mattered, because even if we would have ended up as victors, I just couldn't find the motivation for it anymore. I had seen much ugliness in my short life, much more than most people will ever have to see, but I still couldn't get rid of the image of my brother being eaten alive by that shark. Nor the image of Nono being trapped and left for dead in Gola Mosca. It just didn't sit right with me anymore.

I knew I only went back with the Varia because of Squalo, but I also knew I didn't want that kind of famiglia anymore. But at the same time, I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't know any other way of life and to be honest, I didn't really know how to be with people that aren't at least a little bit fucked up. Besides, I didn't have a death wish just yet. Because no one leaves Varia unless it's in a body bag, something that could be easily arranged if you didn't watch it. Which was why I was all the more surprised when I heard a knock at my door, only to open it and see the boss standing in the hallway, looking even more pissed than he usually did.

"Invite me in trash."

"Wh- well-"

"Just shut up." I was briskly pushed to the side as Xanxus all but stomped in and sat down at a chair by my window. I hadn't spoken directly to him since that battle for the Rain ring, and now I didn't have a clue of what to say. Still, he sat like the spoilt prince he was and looked at me expectantly.

"I… you look good today boss."

"Stop trying to weasel out of it, scum." Well it was worth a try.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I had managed to come out of my stupor enough to close the door and take a seat on my bed, facing him. I felt like the child who was caught doing something naughty but tried to pretend nothing had happened, but honestly, I hadn't done anything. The incident with the kitchen and the flames today was all Bel, I just happened to pass by.

"How long have you been here?" Xanxus looked as uninterested as ever as he asked me the question.

"Two years, almost."

"Do you like it here?"

Who asks that kind of question; whether a person likes being a hitman? "I take pride in being a member of the Varia," a standard response by now.

"I didn't ask about you pride, God, are you fucking stupid or something?" He stood up from his chair and in two strides he was next to me and grabbing me by the collar of my uniform. "I asked it if you fucking _liked_ it here. Do you understand or do I have to _repeat_ myself?"

"I understand," was all I got out. After that I somehow just stared dumbfounded at Xanxus but I couldn't for the life of me just say _yes_ and get it over with. I just gaped at him like a fish until he after a few moments let go of me and with a sigh he sat down again.

"I'm going to take the silence as a good sign since it means that you're at least not lying to my face."

"May… may I ask you something?" he just stared back at me but I deemed it safe to continue "Why are you here, why are you asking me these questions?"

He didn't make any notion that he had heard, but after a while he got up, threw an envelope at the bed and made his way towards the door.

"Pack your shit." And then he was gone. It wasn't until a few minutes after he had gone and I heard other people walking past my door that I dared to relax. I grasped the envelope and opened it. it contained only a single piece of paper with some words that seemed completely incomprehensible to me even though it was in Italian. I had to read it three times before I fully understood what it was.

A death certificate.

Mine specifically. It stated that I had died earlier that day in an accident; an explosion in the kitchen due to a gas leak… the body was too burnt to be identified, but at least one person bear witness to having seen me walk into the kitchen just moments before.

They were letting me go.

Xanxus was letting me leave the Varia, _alive,_ and this was the only way he could do it and still maintain his image.

… … … … … … … …

At first I had no idea of what I should do with my new found freedom. I couldn't use any of my saved up money since it would look highly suspicious if a dead person started doing bank errands, but I was yet again surprised when I found another envelope in the bottom of my backpack. This one contained enough cash to let me stay at a motel for a few weeks and a note,

"_Your life insurance, don't think I fucking paid anything out of niceness._"

It wasn.t Xanxus's handwriting. But it was in the same handwriting that forged the signature of my parents for me when I was eight and didn't pass my math test. I should have known that Xanxus hadn't gotten me out by the good will of his heart or some soft spot for a poor girl, but rather a soft spot for the man at whose death he had laughed only a few weeks prior. Really, if the Boss just stopped trying to act like a complete idiot all the time he'd be kind of nice, even if he was completely insane.

There wasn't anything else written on the note, no phone number or addresses. Of course I had my cell with me, but I knew that if I tried calling anyone at the base I wouldn't be able to reach to a valid number. I was clearly not supposed to contact them anymore. Hardly surprising, but I still didn't really have anywhere to go. A motel was probably a good idea, at least until I got a job and somewhere permanent to live. But then again, who would hire a fifteen year old with no education and no skills except shooting people?

… … … … … … … …

I was walking down the street of a small town in southern Italy three days later when suddenly, a bullet flew past my ear and imbedded into the wall of an old apartment building. I barely dodged it but I managed to pull out a own gun from my waistband and aimed it in the direction from where the shot came.

"Good to see you're not too slow." I recognised the voice immediately, anyone who had any connection to the mafia would "it would have been troublesome to explain you dying. Again."

"Reborn…" I narrowed my eyes at the arcobaleno, still aiming my gun at the small figure standing atop a parked truck a few yards away "the fuck do you want?"

"You know, even if you're not as loud, I can see the resemblance between you and your brother; you both have such a colourful language."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"Join us."

…

…

…

"What?"

"I have dinner reservations for me and Bianchi, I just happened to spot you here while I was strolling. So join us for dinner."

Oh.

Wait a minute, dangerous baby-hitmen didn't just _take a stroll. _

"I think I'll pass, I'd rather not have Bianchi's wrath not aimed at me for interrupting your date. But it was nice seeing you, bye!" I sprinted down the street and rounded a corner while holding my gun in a firm grip. I knew that if Reborn wanted to follow me he could, but when I hadn't seen him for ten minutes I stopped to catch my breath. Only to find that I had ran like five miles in the opposite direction of where I currently lived.

_Dammit… well, some exercise never killed anyone. _

I shouldn't have dared to hope that it was just a chance meeting with an almost deadly outcome, but I couldn't stop the groan that escaped me as I dragged my feet into my room and saw the envelope situated by the windowsill. It had my name printed in neat letters on its backside, and on the front was the seal of the Vongola. Inside, there was a note written in the same neat handwriting.

_Join us. _

Nothing more. If this was another dinner-invitation I had to say it was kind of stupid not to leave any information about time or place. I checked the envelope to see if there was anything else in it, and actually there was. A plane ticket.

To Japan.

Well I did need a job… and I had a feeling that this could be highly interesting.

… … … … … … … …

_Ladies and gentlemen, you may now unfasten your seatbelts and we will shortly open the cabin doors. We at Japan Airlines would like to thank you for choosing us and hope that you will have a pleasant stay… Signore e signori, è ora possono slacciare le cinture di sicurezza…_ I toned out the high pitched voice of the flight attendant and quickly got my luggage from the seat in front of me. I felt naked and vulnerable without my gun, but since I no longer had any official connection to the Varia or to anyone at all I couldn't expect to have privileges… like a private jet and just "skipping" security check. It was late when I arrived, but the airport was still bustling with people, and it was huge. I scanned the hall for new arrival for exit number 10, where I had been instructed to wait. I didn't expect to recognise the person who would pick me up, it was probably just some package boy who wouldn't draw any attention. _Oh how wrong I was_.

Right by the exit was a crowd of people; Reborn, his psycho girlfriend, THE KIDS, and they were all shouting something or other. The smallest children were running around, chasing each other, _and was that a pink grenade_? Shamal's adept was lying on the floor, clutching his stomach in pain (why didn't he just stay at home if he was sick?), the wimpy kid who somehow was the Tenth was pulling his hair… and then there was him.

I wanted to hit myself for getting so worked up over that naïve brat, especially since he didn't kill my brother after all. But almost as much as I wanted to hit myself I wanted to beat that smile off his face. People that deadly weren't allowed to look so freaking happy.

I slowly walked towards them, making sure not to display any emotions. No one noticed me until I stood right in front of them and dropped my rucksack on to the floor.

"Reborn. Bianchi. Brats…" I nodded towards Reborn, just so he wouldn't shoot me for being too rude. How come I go from one abusive boss to the other? He looked up from his place on his girlfriend's shoulder and smiled before reaching out his right hand towards me.

"Welcome to the family, Anna."

* * *

I command you to review! ...Pretty please?


	3. kids just play nice

I am really sorry that it took me so long to get this finished, but work was keeping me busy and all of a sudden school started again. I am still not completely satisfied with it, but I wanted to get the chapter out soon in order to move on. Anyway, I might change the summary and things surrounding the story a bit (categories etc) which you might not find so relevant, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.

**Oh, and thank you for reviewing! I may not respond directly, but trust me: I do a victory-dance when I see them, even if I am in public ;)**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything in this except Anna.

**Warnings:** slight tacky-ness and moments of the author getting too carried away with poetic descriptions of food.

* * *

Reborn had barely finished his sentence before Hell broke loose again, only this time everyone's anger and chaos seemed to be directed at me instead. Apparently the infant had unashamedly lied about cousin Vladimir from Russia coming to help him tutor _dame-Tsuna,_ who actually seemed kind of relieved that it wasn't another arcobaleno, until he of course recognised me. Then he started shouting and breathing a bit too fast. The silver haired boy who fought against Bel had somehow miraculously recovered from his illness (_What the hell was wrong with him anyway?)_ and was now holding bombs in both of his hands while getting out in front of Sawada Tsunayoshi.

The new Tenth, and above all my new boss.

God it felt weird to put the title _Boss_ on the meek, brown haired boy in front of me. But it was probably a good idea to start addressing my new pay check by his proper title.

"Tenth, it must be a trap, she was with the Varia!" the angry bomber only briefly directed his eyes to look behind him before he continued "What do you want, are you here to finish the work your useless boss couldn't?"

I had a hard time understanding what he said with my limited knowledge of Japanese, and I slowly tried to reply "I am a friend, Reborn invite-"

"It could just be a way to try and spy on us. What are you planning!?" He wasn't too keen on actually listening to me.

"If I have a plan, I wouldn't say anything to you. Idiot." _Bah, did he think I was stupid?_ Of course they were suspicious of me, they would have been fools not to be, but I was jetlagged and too tired to deal with his attitude… shitty brat.

Unfortunately this particular shitty brat had a never ending supply of very big firecrackers. _And I didn't have a gun on me yet._ I started to scan for any convenient emergency exit if I needed to make a quick escape and I slowly backed away to buy some more time. Our eyes were still fixed at each other, and the tension was building up.

Everyone waited for one of us to make a move, and I saw his right hand twitch just a bit too much for it to have been unintentional. I readied myself to run for the nearest exit, only some 15 yards away, when I first heard, then saw a group of children making their way to the very same exit. A whole freaking class full of children on a school trip, and somehow none of us seemed to have noticed them. If I ran now, he would probably be able to throw the bombs after me, but that meant he may also harm some of the children in the process. I had no other choice but to give up and hope that I was fast enough to warn him without drawing any unnecessary attention to us. Seriously, how could this unfocused group of kids beat Varia's finest…

Fortunately I and everyone else in the airport was saved when the rain Guardian decided to step in and save the day with just as much grace as an elephant,

"Maa-maa, Gokudera… aren't you overreacting a bit now? She's going to turn right back ti Italia if we behave like this, haha!" The Rain Guardian, the katana brat, the… most infuriating boy I have ever laid eyes on just physically blocked the vision of his comrade and _patted me _on the _head_ like it was the most natural thing in the world. He was quite a bit taller than me and I had to look up in order to meet his eyes, only to discover that his attention were neither on me nor the other participant in the fight. It just seemed to mismatch; the words and his tone were playful and light hearted, but the look in his eyes had a steely edge to them. I recognised the glint in his eyes from when he fought Squalo, and I had seen it in the eyes of many men who lived to fight. But none of them had been like this guy. He was observing something with great interest, and I tried following the line of his vision. It led to the same exit and the same group of children who had now passed by and were making their way towards a cafeteria.

So he did have something behind that forehead besides air… because he seemed to be the only one besides me who had actually noticed the children. I drew a sigh of relief. Seeing as the danger was now over, he relaxed and looked down at me, and all at once that edge was gone from his eyes. "And we haven't even introduced ourselves, I mean even though we have met before! My name is Yamamoto Takeshi. It's nice to meet you. Again!" he reached out his hand for me to shake, but I just stared dumbfounded at it. How could this goofy guy… be such a natural hitman? He truly was an enigma, this Yamamoto Takeshi. He didn't seem to care that I was so impolite to him and continued to smile. He was about to say something just as Reborn stepped in. The infant jumped from the shoulder of Bianchi and down to mine so he could address the whole present family.

"Anna here is the newest addition to our family. She voluntarily left the Varia to join us and information about them has been given in exchange for asylum seeing as she is now on the run from Xanxus." Now this was another of his lies, and I almost voiced my opinion that I had sort of been kicked out (though in a nice way) when it hit me. Reborn was, in a way, trying to smooth things up for me. Somehow he trusted me and believed that I wouldn't betray them. All of a sudden a warm feeling started to spread in my chest and in my stomach… probably just heartburn.

"Any questions?" Reborn gave them all a look that dared anyone to speak against him. Dame-Tsuna, _whatever the nickname meant, it really got stuck to your brain_, squeaked and actually hid behind the angry bomber, _whatever his name was_. He though, still wasn't so keen on the idea and wasn't slow on voicing his opinions,

"This is insane! I will not let her anywhere near the Tenth!" He started to pull out even more bombs, but it seemed luck would be on my side again when Bianchi stepped forth and firmly grabbed his shoulder and spoke in her low, calm voice "Hayato, manners."

He managed about 0.3 seconds before he got sick again, and now I saw the pattern of his mysterious illness.

_This could get handy in the future._ Like when I discovered that Lussuria had arachnophobia. Let's just say that my nylons never went missing after that.

* * *

After the chaotic welcome at the airport we all went home to Tsuna. He insisted that I didn't call him Tenth, but at first he seemed so nervous sitting next to me. A Mafioso is apparently supposed to travel by bus and not by a luxurious car, though maybe that was just one of Reborn's ways of "teaching humility". Although I only ended up next to Tsuna because Ahoudera (took me about five minutes to both get his real name and his perfect nickname) really wanted the seat and I wasn't really in the mood to be compliant. I wasn't sure of what I should say to him though. Xanxus was never a man of many words and so I only had to interact with him to prepare missions and when he needed help finding his office in the morning because he was too drunk to remember where it was. This happened surprisingly often. Thus, we hadn't travelled for more than a few minutes before I started fidgeting as well.

What to talk to your new boss about? '_Hey, I'm like soooo sorry that we almost killed you and all, but we're cool, right? Ne? Neee?'_ No.. bad idea to bring up the ring battle again.

'_So, how do you like being a mafia boss? Must get the ladies flocking for once, right?'_

No. just no. My fidgeting only got worse and I must have looked like a nervous, cold sweating wreck by the time Tsuna got the courage to break the ice,

"So… Anna-san, right? I- I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, you can call me Tsuna, or Tsuna-kun if you want to, don't call me Tsuna-san please. It makes me think of Namahages… Most in my school call me Dame-Tsuna though!" the look of horror he got when he realised that in his ramble he gave away a little too much information was too cute and I just couldn't keep a straight face "Na- haha, Namahage? What is that exactly?"

"It's a long story, you would get bored…" He blushed and tried to look anywhere but at me and the rest of the sentence was spoken too low for me to hear it. But as I looked at the new Tenth I think I saw it. That thing Nono spoke of so often. Because even if everyone just saw a "dame-Tsuna", we had all seen him fight for what was right, fight for the ones he loved. Not because he wanted to but because he had to, yet nothing could have stopped him. Not even the flames of rage which I had thought was the only thing in the world that could burn away everything, the only thing that was as reliable as my brother's sword.

The thing is… you learn after a while is that pure strength isn't all. I had followed my brother because he was all he had, and thus I had followed Xanxus. But I wouldn't have done it with the conviction I had if I hadn't seen the determination in the eyes of Xanxus every time he met an obstacle and crushed it.

And now I would follow Tsuna because I saw the insecurity in his eyes and the blush of his cheeks as he tried to clumsily change the subject. He would become a good boss, even if he was a wimpy and meek kid.

Because in the end, brute strength isn't enough to make you stand on top.

* * *

Meeting Mama was absolutely divine: I mean, she must have been sent from fucking heaven. Being able to manage more children than you could count (it took me a while to understand that she was related to only the Tenth) and making all that delicious food made me fall in love for a split second. I had never tasted Takoyaki before, but I will be damned if that Lambo ever gets a chance to steal one of Mama's Takoyaki from me again. They were so perfectly round, _crunchy_ on the outside and so _sooooooft_ on the inside…

The dinner table was obviously more than full before I arrived, and I felt a bit self-conscious when they had to shuffle around the chairs a bit in order to fit another one in for me. In the end I sat as far away from Tsuna as possible- courtesy of Gokudera, of course. I didn't pay much attention to the others, until Yamamoto came up beside me and put his hand on my shoulder _again_. He obviously does not understand the concept of personal space.

"Don't worry Anna-chan, I'll sit with you!"

He beamed his big smile at me and pulled out the chair next to me. I swear he actually managed to get even closer when he sat down, and I was somehow annoyed how he seemed to tower over me with his ridiculous height.

"I didn't ask you to." I kept scowling at him, hoping that he would just give up, but it was all in vain.

"Have you used chopsticks before?"

"What?"

"I can teach you! You don't use them In Italy right?"

"… Or you can just take that chopstick and shove it up your-"

"Anna-san!" I shut up, but only for the sake of Tsuna who already had me wrapped around his finger. I wonder if he realised the impact he had on others. Yamamoto on the other hand, just laughed at me and didn't seem fazed at all.

"You really are just like him."

I looked up to him, and I must admit that it was surprising to hear anyone besides Gokudera mention my affiliation to Squalo and the Varia (Gokudera never shut up about it). Yamamoto had his eyes fixed on mine and my breath almost hitched. Again he had spoken so lightly about it but his jaw was set and his eyes flickered around my face to look for any signs of some emotion or other. As if he was uncertain whether I was still angry with him about the battle and now he was testing the waters. I wasn't certain of that myself though. On one hand I was angry, but it felt more out of habit than because of an actual grudge against him.

Lately I was more annoyed with him being schizophrenic to be honest. So, I just scoffed at him "Idiot. We share like, 50 % of our DNA. Of course we're similar." I smirked at him and picked up one of my chopsticks, using it to skewer the Takoyaki instead of using both to pick it up like you should "See? I can use it just fine."

Tsuna just sighed, Reborn had the nerve to smirk and wave his eyebrows at me (seriously, infants were not supposed to imply things, even if they were a hitman) and Yamamoto actually went quiet, but kept a small smile on his lips.

This time it reached his eyes.


End file.
